We are pleased to announce the 2014 nominees for Coast Guard Video of the Year. We’ve selected the top 10 videos, the best of the best, as this year’s nominees. Now, we need your help in deciding the top Coast Guard video for 2014!

For more than a decade, the U.S. military has employed unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, to patrol the skies over targets and areas of interest, providing critical surveillance capabilities without putting pilots and crew in harm’s way. With the recent demonstration of hand-launched UAS on board a Sector Miami Fast Response Cutter, the Coast Guard is continuing its evaluation of UAS capabilities and potential incorporation into future cutter operations.

“Together with my shipmates, we’re beginning the most important milestones in the life of a cutter,” said Capt. Doug Fears, Hamilton’s commanding officer and the most senior member of the crew. “The Cutter Hamilton is now officially in active service to execute the most challenging maritime security, law enforcement, and national defense missions.”

Coast Guard men and women are always coming up with innovative ways to solve the service’s challenges. But it’s not every day that a group of young junior officers — and their former cadet advisor — find themselves U.S. Patent holders for their invention.

Serving aboard a Coast Guard Cutter named Hamilton inspires a certain pride in Coast Guard men and women. Since 1830, cutters carrying this namesake have patrolled the waters to ensure the safety and security of American citizens.

Hamilton is a name internalized by each and every Coast Guard member. It’s the name held by the “father” of the Coast Guard, Alexander Hamilton and a name that has continued to serve our country in the form of Coast Guard cutters since 1830. The crew of Hamilton, the newest cutter to bear the name, carries forward a more than 180-year tradition of serving aboard a vessel that bears the name of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who created the Revenue Cutter Service in 1790.

“The names that will reside on the transom of these wonderful ships will inspire a generation of Coast Guard heroes that will always know their heritage, always know their history and they will always pay appropriate respect to the enlisted heroes that came before them.”

Being the spouse of an ‘ancient mariner’ provides a unique perspective into the world of Coast Guard cutters and life at sea. However, Linda Kapral Papp, wife of retired Adm. Bob Papp, is getting a different view of the cutter fleet through her new role: sponsor of the Coast Guard’s fourth National Security Cutter, Hamilton.

“Our crew used their unique capabilities and authorities as a military service, law enforcement agency, and member of the U.S. intelligence community to disrupt transnational organized crime networks in the Eastern Pacific and keep drugs from making it to the U.S.,” said Capt. Edward A. Westfall, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell. “These illegal drug networks are dangerous breeding grounds for all types of trafficking and their immense profits fuel violence and instability.”

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